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We all play games at work

Friday, December 02, 2016

I am doing a revision for the final module in our manager's development programme and I'm trying to get back into reading this book Games at Work, How to Recognise and Reduce Office Politics by Mauricio Goldstein and Philip Read.

Games at Work, How to Recognise and Reduce Office Politics

by Mauricio Goldstein and Philip Read

I have started reading it when I last bought it March this year but stopped halfway. Like when I was reading Eric Berne's Games People Play back in 2009, I found it hard to follow the descriptions of the games. You can see I am not a very structured person, and I need more effort to work structures out, to unpack them.

I wanted to also check out on this avoidance game that people play but I don't seem to find it in Berne's or Goldstein's book. I found this article useful though: Being Ignored as a Bullying Tactic.

Games are played in at different intensities and levels in our lives, be it personal, in a team, or in an organisation at large. Goldstein said that game playing is often a subconscious activity and it does the damage beneath the surface. We all need to reduce our games and become more authentic. A team that reduces games becomes more trusting and connected. An organization that reduces games becomes more believable, meaningful, attractive, creative, and productive.

But it is not easy. A lack of awareness of games played and the presence of an unhealthy culture would encourage people to play them consciously or unconsciously and this will certainly thwart the success of the business. It is worse still when it is played from the top.

But it starts with us, where we are: to be a leader who journeys from self to service...coping to character...from games to giving (Goldstein).